Talk About Empty Spaces

I took down the tree yesterday, and all of the decorations. What a mess! But it's funny how big and empty that space is now. It didn't always feel so bare! Jayden keeps saying he likes it, more room to run around and all.
By the way, Jayden's birthday was wonderful! Pictures to come... At one point in the evening, the kids were runing around the house, at full speed, at full sound. Adam looked at me and said, "The lady downstairs is on her way up!" It was such a great feeling knowing that we can make noise, run around in our own space and not have to worry about any neighbors below. So, thank you Texas, for being such a big place for us.

A Tear Jerker

My poor son. Tonight he came into the kitchen and said, I'm not really ready for my birthday to be here (tomorrow is his 7th birthday). We asked him why not, and he said, I'm kinda scared.
Well, I think he meant, he's kinda sad.
You see, last year we had a big birthday party for him. He remembers that everyone was there, the whole family and all of his friends.
He told us tonight that Papa and Kathleen are his family and the two friends he invited are coming, but it isn't the same. He said he really wants his cousins, Micah and Sarah to be here, too. And here's the hardest thing he said, he said he can't really remember what they look like anymore. Yeah, that made both Adam and I cry.
So, tomorrow we celebrate another year passed and another year to come. We are so thankful for all of the blessings we have received this year. Our baby daughter, our new house, a new job and our family - however far away they are. Please know that we all, especially Jayden right now, feel the loneliness and those empty places in our hearts that only you can fill.

A few things on Christmas...

A few pictures of Christmas Morning...
Grace got a trike, which I have found Jayden riding on more than Grace. She always ends up pushing him around on it. Yeah, try to picture that! A 20 pounder pushing a 60 pounder! It's pretty funny.
Jayden wanted a Transformer Christmas. He asked for it! Santa was good to him. And so was Nana, she got him the most coveted Optimus Prime. (The one daddy is "playing" with. These are not like the old school Transformers. They take a lot of skill and fine motor tuning to put them together. Apparently I have neither - Adam told Jay that when he is at work and if Jay can't figure it out, he'll have to wait til he gets home! haha!!)
And Norah is playing with all of the boxes... She actully got a couple of baby dolls, some really cute clothes and one of those Taggies books, that I love! And lots of other things... She had a great Christmas.

Just a little late...
Decorating the tree!

She's Such a Snot Face!

"Baby Grace
"Baby Grace
"You have snot on your face,
"But
"Your
"Stillll
"Prettttyyyy!"

It seems like the kids always have runny noses. If it isn't one of them, it is the other. When my sister April was here she made up a song for Grace, as demonstrated above, and Grace still goes around the house singing it.

A Little Giggle for Your Day

Turn Up the volume for the best giggle ever! (Except whose giggle is better, Jayden's or Norah's?)

How to get away with talking into the microphone when your mom said no.

The other night Jayden and I were at church for a Christmas Program rehearsal. It was the dress rehearsal, so there were microphones and lights. At the end of the program, the kids were practicing exiting the stage, and as they left a few of them would make funny noises into the microphone. For example, one kid would say, "Googoogoo." Another would say, "DaDaDa." Oh yeah, these were kids whose parents were not there. Thus they felt they could get away with it. When Jayden stepped up to the mic i said, "No Jay." A split second later, he is lifting his arms up holding up his finger in the peace sign, saying into the mic, "I LOVE YOU MOM!"
Now how could I get mad at that?

Just for fun

April snapped the family picture for us. I thought it would maybe make for a great photo opp... but no one would cooperate.
Then the one of me and Jay is at some place downtown. One Saturday we went exploring and found a great walking trail that follows Buffalo Bayou and you end up downtown. We'll have to try it when you all come to visit. :)
Ok, I'm done for the night, and the month.

Kiddo's

Just the cutest kids ever... that's all.

Papa Mel and the Kids

Some special moments with Papa Mel...
My parents came to visit during the Thankgiving Holiday. They left on Wednesday and all day long Grace wandered around the house asking, "Where's Papa and Gammie?"

SO BIG!

Norah is growing by leaps and bounds...
This week she cut her first two teeth (bottom, front). She is playing all sorts of games with us, one of our favorites, SO BIG! We ask her, How big is Norah? She lifts up her arms (as seen above) and we all say, SO BIG!
She waves Hi, and Bye, Bye! She gives kisses, and also blows kisses. And, then there's Adam's favorite, RRROOAR! He growls at her and she growls back.

Our First Thanksgiving In Our New House

So, here is a pretty collage, courtesy of my sister April. If you'd like a close-up, click on the picture...

Purple Boy

In Jayden's class, they have a behavior system in the form of a color chart. Each morning and afternoon the kids start out on 'white' - white is pretty good, and definitely not bad, from there they can move up or down. The downwards slope is when your are not making good choices, and those colors are, yellow, orange and red - red being the worst. Upwards means you are doing great things, those colors are green, blue, purple - purple being the best.
Well, after weeks of doing well (green, sometimes blue and a lot of white) we are proud to announce that Jayden landed himself on purple yesterday! He came home and said, "Mom, guess what color I got on?" Well, this could be tricky. Do I get excited and jump up and down, only to be told that he didn't make it on purple? Could it be that he got on yellow or orange? I studied his face for some clue, and finally just guessed, "Did you get on purple?" He said, "YUP!" Well, after a few moments of excitement, joy, those "I knew you could do it" phrases and yes, there were tears... he told me, "I read quietly in the hall, so I got on green. Then I did my work quietly at the stations, so I got on blue. Then I did my work quietly at my desk, so I got on purple!"
We tried to call daddy, but he was busy and couldn't pick up his phone. Then we told Aunt April (Bepo) and there was more excitement and his, "It wasn't that hard," - when days earlier he was moaning about how hard it is to get on purple.
When daddy called back a few moments later, Adam was reminded of his promise to take Jayden to Chuck E. Cheese's should Jayden get on purple. So, needless to say, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's for a night of screaming kids and bad pizza, but we loved it.
Before he went to bed I told him how proud I was of him. He told me, "I'm proud of myself!"

Another Star Wars Moment

Check out Jay...
Watching Star Wars with R2 and his light sabre in hand.

Colors Schmolors

The last few weeks we have been working with Grace and her colors. She knows all kinds of songs, some letters, some numbers, but for some reason, colors stump her. Everything is green-purple. Not green. Not purple. Green-Purple.
Me: What color is your (pink) shirt, Grace?
Grace: Green-purple
April: What color is the (brown) chair?
Grace: Green-purple
Me: What color is the (orange) wall?
Grace: ORANGE!! (ok, she gets a star for that one!)

Do You Smell Something?

Scary Things

Happy Harvest - ahh fooey

Have you ever tried to get the perfect picture? And for whatever reason, the subjects just won't cooperate? In this case I would have taken a semi-perfect picture, with them at least all looking at the camera at the same time! Oh well... Maybe next year...

INCLUDING NANA'S!!